Trapped
by psychosocialwai
Summary: Reincarnation AU. Sasori was quite satisfied living alone in his flat, working in a huge hospital, and saving people's lives in the Operating Room. He was living in the present time, in the modern world, but he remembered his life and identity in the past like as if he was trapped to it. And now, he has to solve the mystery of remembering his cruel past and start all over again.
1. Chapter 1

Reincarnation AU. Sasori was quite satisfied living alone in his flat, working in a huge hospital, and saving people's lives in the Operating Room. He was living in the present time, in the modern world, but he remembered his life and identity in the past like as if he was trapped to it. And now, he has to solve the mystery of remembering his cruel past and start all over again.

* * *

 **ABOUT**

Trapped is a dystopian Naruto Shippuden alternate universe in which Akasuna no Sasori is a doctor in the modern world who remembers his life and identity as a shinobi. Some of the events or references used to describe and explain the backstory of the characters did not occur in the original plot of the manga/anime series.

* * *

 **SYNOPSIS**

Sasori remembered his life as an orphan, a shinobi, a puppet master, and a member of Akatsuki. But it was never easy to live a present life remembering all of those memories stuck in his mind – the blood shed of innocent civilians and countless shinobi that he'd murdered, the rank S missions, the death of his subordinates and comrades, and the moment when he lost the person he once cared so much. He was quite satisfied of what has been happening in his present life as a 35-year old doctor working in a huge hospital, but it wasn't the same anymore when he met her – the lady doctor who resembled the medical kunoichi he was most affectionate with during his shinobi days. He could tell the number of days that gone through since he figured out why he was reminded of his past. After much anticipation, he reckoned it was that mysterious old woman's fault when he happened to pass by an alley across the hospital. But it was all too late. He seemed to be trapped in the past and there was no way he could be able to move on from it, now that he has to find that old woman and made her explain everything that's going on. However, he wanted to do something new for his sake in order to move on from the guilt and regret that has been killing him inside, to live a good kind of life, and to start all over again.

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER**

All characters and references of Naruto Shippuden belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

I do not own the cover image.

* * *

 **GENRES**

Romance, Humor, Mystery, Hurt/Comfort

* * *

 **01 | Cursed**

" _You are cursed, Akasuna no Sasori."_

He still couldn't get it out of his mind. That old hag across the street must be disturbed, he thought. But he couldn't help thinking about it because nightmares started to freak him at night ever since that notable encounter happened.

It has been two weeks since Sasori was approached by an old woman after a long day of saving lives in the operating room. He's been a busy surgeon and he only left his workplace when he has to buy food across the street and go home. That late afternoon was no different from any other ordinary day he's been through, or at least that's just what he thought, but it was actually the opposite.

" _Hey, young man."_ An old woman called out.

Sasori pretended he didn't hear anything and continued walking as he passed by an alley where the old woman and her products were settled subtly.

" _You! The redhead surgeon in black shirt!"_

He halted on his feet when she described him accurately. _How the hell-?_

The old woman smirked. _"Come here and check out my little gems. I'm sure you'll like my miniature puppet."_

There was really an interesting tiny, human-figure puppet on the rack that he caught sight when he passed by. So, he went to check the materials used aside from his attempt to find out how she knew that he was a surgeon. He never saw her in the hospital. But he anticipated that maybe she saw him on TV when he was interviewed in a certain health program last week.

The old woman was a typical one – gray, long braided hair, wrinkled skin, dull eyes; but her products were quite peculiar. There were accessories that seemed to be out of fashion, different shapes and sizes of handy blades, and some tiny bottles that looked like herbal medicines and antidotes. When he touched a vile of antidote to inspect it, he felt dizzy and a cold aura seemed to start covering his whole body. The strange feelings suddenly stopped when he dropped it back on the rack. The sweat that was formed on his forehead slid from his temple down to his jawline. He suddenly felt like trembling.

 _What the hell happened to me?_ He asked himself as he glared at the old woman who was comfortably sitting on her small stool. She was looking directly in his eyes.

" _You are cursed, Akasuna no Sasori."_ said the old woman impassively.

A cold wind brushed through his cheeks and felt a chill down his spine. He really wanted to scowl at her but he has to live the life of being a well-respected doctor.

He's got no clue of what she was saying but it's quite threatening. To make it clear, he looked at her eyes and said, _"What do you mean?"_

" _Don't make me repeat it, young man. You've had enough regret to suffer in your lifetime."_

Sasori's weary vibe was suddenly changed. _"I don't understand what you're saying."_ He said bluntly, regretting that he treated her politely despite of the strange feeling that threatened him.

He stood and continued on pacing the crowded sidewalk.

" _Regret is better than paying a higher price with the person you once cared about."_ said the old woman, making sure he heard it clearly.

 _That's rubbish._ He thought.

Before he could get further, he turned to glance back at her but she was gone, much to his surprise and bewilderment. He never believed in spirit guides his whole life. There was no way in this world that old woman would be his spirit guide, he thought while cooking dinner.

He was always alone in his huge, expensive flat except when the beagles barged in whenever they wanted to ruin his night.

"How stupid." He muttered. It's been his favorite expression all this time.

There was a sudden knock on the door that pulled him back to his senses. He let out a muffled swear, quite irritated, as he made his way towards the door. It was already half past eight and he didn't want to entertain visitors, not that he's asocial or a loner; he's just not in the mood. When he looked through the peephole, his sight stumbled upon long blond hair tied in a high ponytail, a short black haired lad with a face mask who's always clinging on the blond one, and a tall guy with white-bleached hair. Sasori let out an exasperated sigh and opened the door. It's the beagles.

"Sup, redhead?" the tall guy with white-bleached hair greeted.

Sasori ignored him and went straight back to the kitchen.

"Looks like our noble doctor is having a rough day, huh." There was sarcasm in his voice.

"What brings you here, idiots?" Sasori finally spoke and leaned his back on the counter, crossing his arms over his chest, after turning off the stove.

Hidan smirked and tapped the blond's head. "Deidara and Toby missed you so muc-"

Deidara hit his head with a throw pillow that made him swear. "We got kicked out, Sir. Thanks to Toby."

"You're welcome." replied the responsible one who got a kick on the shin by Deidara while Hidan started cursing the two with swears only he could understand.

The room was filled with noise and swearing and it's starting to disturb the neighbors. They're also getting on Sasori's nerves, especially when he saw Toby grabbed one of his human-figure puppet collections from the living room's wall to serve as protection from Deidara.

"You three, out." said Sasori when he's done watching them.

"But-" complained the three men who were currently lounging on the long couch.

He scowled at them. "I don't accept freeloaders."

"But Toby is a good boy!" Toby reasoned out and frantically placed the puppet back on its proper place.

Sasori's eyes rolled when they gave him a please-have-mercy look in their eyes. It seemed that he's got no choice but to take them in for the night.

"How stupid." said Sasori and prepared a bowl of ramen for himself.

"Aren't you going to feed your hungry friends?" asked Hidan and sat across him on the counter.

Sasori gestured his head towards the cabinet. "Serve yourself, freeloader."

Hidan walked towards the cabinet and opened it, only to find out a plastic bag of cup noodles and two packs of instant ramen. He shot Sasori a criticizing glare, "Come on, I thought you're advocating that healthy fucking living on TV. Whatever, it doesn't matter."

Sasori shot him a get-out-of-my-place-if-you-don't-want-noodles glare.

Hidan went to open the fridge, carrying the plastic bag of noodles lazily, and grinned upon seeing a bottle of wine. "Now this is so darn interesting."

Deidara snatched the plastic bag of noodles on Hidan's hand and smirked. "If you're not eating it, we will. Right, Toby?"

"Yes, Sir. Because Toby is a good boy."

They all rolled their eyes on the latter.

Morning sunshine sneaked on their sheets through the window and Sasori was just ready to leave. He watched them sleeping soundly on the carpet of his living room for a moment before intentionally sliding the curtains on the side to lighten up the room.

"Fuck it! Where the hell is that darn light coming from? Oh lord Jashin, this is unforgivable!" Hidan swore early in the morning when sunlight hit his eyes. But he stopped muttering when he saw the redhead standing before them, arms crossed over his chest. "Are you leaving already?" he asked and checked the time.

"Bring the defibrillator, idiots." Deidara mumbled on his sleep while Toby kept on snoring.

Sasori gave them a bored look. "I don't want to see your faces when I get back. And tell Deidara to go back to work before I kick the hell out of him in my department." He said in one breath and slammed the door.

His head was throbbing on his temple as he drove all the way to the hospital. There were too much stuffs to handle and he couldn't focus on his job recently. He got another nightmare last night. It was too dramatic and heartbreaking to be considered a nightmare compared to the ones he'd dreamed from the past few days. He decided to brush away the thought when he arrived in the hospital. As usual, he received greetings from the female nurses and residents when he dropped by the nurse station.

"Hey, Dr. Sasori, did you meet the new fellow in your department?" asked the head nurse named Shizune curiously.

He didn't always talk to the nurses and that was the first time he's got a bit of interest on what they were saying. "No." he answered plainly.

"It's only her first day but she got a patient already." one of the residents muttered.

"Oh, she's here." said Shizune and waved at the lady doctor who was coming their way.

Sasori looked to the direction where the nurse was looking at and saw a lovely lady with chestnut brown hair in full fringe. Her shoulder length hair was tied up in a high ponytail. She has silver orbs that seemed to be somewhat piercing. She's wearing a white coat like that of him.

 _Keiko Masaharu,_ Sasori mentally read on the tag that was embroidered on the upper pocket of her coat.

She greeted everyone and had a brief eye contact with Sasori. He suddenly felt odd, he couldn't explain what he just felt, but remained impassive.

"Dr. Masaharu, this is Dr. Akasuna from your department. He's a senior." Shizune introduced Sasori.

Keiko bowed to him in respect. "I'm looking forward to work with you, Dr. Akasuna."

He just nodded but he couldn't turn his eyes away from her. That scenario was familiar. It appeared in one of his dreams right before nightmare occurred. Those kind of dreams were like 'the calm before the storm' in his sleeps.

"I have to check on my patient. If you will excuse me." said Keiko, giving Sasori a faint smile and bowed again before leaving.

 _Keiko Masaharu, huh._ Sasori told himself and went to his office. He arranged some papers and sorted it in his drawers.

He has two surgerical operations booked in the Operation Room (OR) that day. He would be assisted by the younger fellows – Karin and Suigetsu (because Deidara was slacking off since yesterday). Those two were actually the subordinates of his fellow senior surgeon, Orochimaru. But when Orochimaru was imprisoned due to malpractice, Dr. Tsunade Senju took Sasori in-charge of them. They were talented fellows but they sometimes got on his nerves.

He let out a sigh of resignation before jolting the doorknob when there was a sudden flash of memories in his mind. It seemed to be an ancient memory when he was fourteen and he's wearing a black sleeveless undershirt underneath a flak jacket. He was a highly appraised shinobi and a modelling specialist of the Puppet Brigade. He was standing behind the wall while secretly watching a kunoichi performing something that required an amount of some bluish energy called chakra. The kunoichi, about age thirteen, stopped and threw a kunai towards Sasori's direction but he dodged it effortlessly. She grinned.

" _I know it's you, Sasori-sama."_

" _What are you doing?"_ he asked and revealed himself.

" _Another medical jutsu that I learned from Elder Chiyo."_ shereplied with a smile. _"I think your grandma is getting fond of teaching me some strange medical jutsu."_

" _You've been sticking with her since you become a jounin, huh."_

She raised her hand pulsed in determination. _"Because I told her that my dream is to be the greatest medical kunoichi of Suna. So you should better wait and watch." she said and winked._

He raised a brow. _"How lame. I hate waiting and you are noisy."_

" _You're mean."_

He patted her head and walked away, but she followed him and talked about the medical jutsu that she'd learned from his grandmother.

Before Sasori was pulled back to his senses, he was perplexed in his thoughts while standing by the door. He didn't even notice when the door suddenly opened and Keiko, whose eyes were fixed on the floor, accidentally bumped her forehead on his chest.

"Aw." She mumbled but was surprised to see him standing in front of her. "Oh, sorry. I barged in." She apologized but got no response. Sasori was spacing out.

She blinked at him. "Dr. Akasuna?"

He slightly shook his head and blinked before looking at her, surprised to see her waving a hand right before his face.

"What are you doing?" asked Sasori with twitched eyebrows.

"Uh…" she quickly hid her hands behind and smiled faintly. "I thought you're spacing out."

He let out a sigh. "What brings you here, anyway?" He asked, dodging glances.

"I was tasked to call you because you're not answering Dr. Senju's calls. We're having a meeting in the conference hall." replied Keiko, matter-of-factly.

They both walked through the corridors but nobody dared to speak. Sasori was in deep thought about the sudden flashback while Keiko was contemplating about the recent awkward scenario she had with her senior.

"Hey, Dr. Sasori." A red-haired lady with glasses greeted before asking a question about the CT scan of their patient but Sasori didn't notice her. "What's with him?"

Her phone suddenly vibrated in her coat's pocket. Suigetsu was calling.

"What is it?"

"Karin! Dr. Senju arranged a meeting at the conference hall." Suigetsu announced in a hurry. He was running through the corridors from the other side of the hospital.

"When?" she asked, quite surprised.

"Now."

Sasori opened the conference hall's door and let Keiko entered first. He was greeted by Tsunade Senju, head of their department and apparently the vice president of the hospital.

"You're just in time, Director." said Tsunade as she watched Sasori and Keiko walked through the aisle.

He sat on the front seat with bored eyes. "You know how much I hate waiting and making people wait, Vice President." He replied, shooting Keiko a look and a slight smirk.

Karin and Suigetsu entered the hall as well and sat on the back seat.

Tsunade smiled faintly, not bothering to extend their absurd conversation. "Everyone! I anticipated that you already have an idea why I called you for a short meeting. So to start, let's welcome the new fellow in our department, Keiko Masaharu."

Everybody welcomed Keiko with a smile, except for Sasori, Suigetsu and Karin who were all but staring at the new fellow. Much to her observation, Tsunade didn't fail to notice it.

"Dr. Masaharu, you will be working with Dr. Sasori in his surgeries. Make your arrangements later." she said and looked at Sasori, "I'm giving your bet a shot this time. We need to work efficiently in the OR."

"Pretty much." Sasori commented wearily after shooting Karin and Suigetsu a criticizing glance.

Tsunade then shifted her gaze at the two. "You two will be working with Dr. Deidara when he gets back."

"I don't mind working with anyone." Karin seemed passive on Tsunade's decision.

Suigetsu remained silent but was mumbling complains on his mind.

Tsunade proceeded to her main agenda. The meeting didn't last long when it finally adjorned. Keiko approached Sasori when he was about to leave the hall.

"Dr. Akasuna." She called. He halted on his pace and looked at her. "About the arrangement..." she added.

He gestured his head towards the direction of his office.

They were silent on the elevator. Keiko wasn't bothered by the silence hovering around them as she hymned a song in her head. It was comfortable, at least to her. But Sasori couldn't contain the silence that seemed to be awkward for him, he couldn't figure out the reason why.

"What medical school did you attend, Dr. Masaharu?" he asked, out of the blue.

She didn't shoot him a glance. "Suna Medical School, Sir."

He was a bit surprised. "Interesting."

His expression made her look at him, merely puzzled.

"I also attended Suna Medical School."

"Oh." She paused for a moment. "I see. Maybe that's why you seemed familiar to me." She said, her face lit up a bit.

He looked at her through their reflection on the elevator's door. _You are also familiar to me, woman._ He said at the back of his mind.

She slightly twitched her eyebrows when curiosity hit her. "But why did you choose to work here? Suna has advance medical technology than Konoha."

The elevator finally opened. They both walked out and headed towards his office.

"I worked there during my first few years but shit happened so I moved here." He opened the door and they entered his neat office. "Tea?" he offered.

"Sure." replied Keiko and sat on the client's chair.

While Sasori was pouring the tea on the cups, it was his turn to ask, "So what brought you here in Konoha Medical Center?"

A frown instantly creased on her face, much to Sasori's curiosity. "It's something personal."

He gave her the cup of tea with an impassive look on his face, holding back himself to prompt her from answering the questions in his mind. They talked about the arrangements of the surgeries that they'd be working ahead, expecting that Deidara would go back to work soon.

"I'm going. Thank you for the tea, it's fancy." said Keiko when they finished their work arrangements and bowed before leaving.

"I'll see you later in the OR." He told her.

She nodded and left his office.

Later that morning, Sasori's surgical operation began with Karin assisting him. It lasted for two and a half hours. Sasori told the patient's relatives that the surgery was successful but they still have to wait for the patient to gain back consciousness. Sometimes he felt tired of telling the same thing to people who emotionally waited outside the OR but he also liked seeing them that way. For him, it showed how much they cared for his patients and others were depending their lives on him.

It's another long day when he started the engine of his car later at around seven in the evening. He worked on two more emergency surgical operations after his scheduled one with Suigetsu's assistance. Keiko assisted him in his two emergency surgical operations and he could tell that she's a talented fellow. Her hands and sight were meticulous and she showed relaxed or minimal emotions despite of their patient's acute condition. He admitted that they would make a great team for successful surgical operations in the future.

" _Let's call it a day. Good job."_ said Sasori when they walked out of the OR. It's been his line everytime he got to work with younger doctors for the first time and found them impressive.

She gave him a grateful smile and they parted.

Sasori's mind was drifting from one thought to another while he was driving down the wide road of the capital. He wondered if the beagles were still in his flat since Deidara didn't go to work that day. Before he went home, he decided to buy groceries because the beagles might have eaten his stocks in the fridge. When he's done buying groceries, he went straight home only to find them lounging on the living room with a huge mess of potato chips, fries and wine bottles on the center table. They were noisy yelling in front of the television while watching basketball.

"Deidara, Hidan, Toby!" he yelled with twitched eyebrows but nobody paid attention.

He got the remote and turned off the TV.

"Fuck! Darn this useless TV-" Hidan stopped swearing when Sasori stood in front of them while holding the remote.

Hidan grinned. "Welcome back, redhead."

"Hey, Sir! How's it going in the OR?" asked Deidara with a sly grin.

Toby waved a hand on him. "Nice to see you again! Oh, you bought foods!"

Sasori twitched his eyebrows and pointed his index finger towards the door. "OUT!"

 **Trapped | to be continued…**


	2. Chapter 2

**02 | Closer**

"I think we'll need more blood! Move faster!"

Tension was always present in Konoha Medical Center. It was never a surprise to a surgeon who seemed to practically live in the Operating Room (OR), but adrenaline rush was always involve upon arrival of patients with critical condition. At least that's what Keiko Masaharu has to live for everyday. Being a surgeon was a noble yet risky profession. There were tough decisions to make and saving lives has never been as easy as breathing.

"Please get out of the way!" Keiko shouted on the people passing by the hospital's foyer as they made their way to the OR with the critical patient.

It's been three weeks since she started working in Konoha Medical Center and she felt more motivated to devote herself in her profession.

"The operation went well. But we have to wait for the patient to gain consciousness." She told the patient's relatives on the waiting area.

"Thank you, Doctor."

She smiled and went to her office to get some rest. The operation lasted for two hours and it was her third operation since morning. She didn't even noticed that it was already seven in the evening. There was a knock on the door while she watched one of Sasori's surgeries on her laptop.

"Come in." she said, her eyes were still focused on the laptop screen.

The door opened and a blond lad in long white coat stood before her office table.

"Dr. Keiko." He greeted.

She glanced at him briefly and shifted her gaze back on the screen. "Hey, Dr. Deidara."

He pulled a seat across her table. "Have you seen Dr. Sasori around?"

"No." replied Keiko, "He must have gone home by now."

She decided to shut her laptop and hanged her white coat on the rack beside the window.

"How about dinner? Hm." Said Deidara out of the blue.

Her silver orbs darted his, as if she's going to tear his soul apart by just looking at her piercing eyes. Deidara swallowed the lump that was suddenly formed in his throat. She was frightening. But before he could say anything, someone knocked on the door and there came Sasori with a scowling face.

"Sasori! Sir!" said Deidara, quite surprised.

"Why are you ignoring my calls?" asked Sasori, his eyebrows were starting to twitch.

Deidara checked his phone and saw nine missed calls from his senior. He gave him a rueful smile. "My phone is in silent mode."

"Your patient in the ICU must be dying now. Pitiful human." said Sasori.

"Darn it." exclaimed Deidara and rushed outside the office.

Sasori and Keiko looked at each other and exchanged faint smiles.

"Are you going home?" he asked casually.

She nodded.

Sasori made eye contact with her and stared for a moment. Keiko gave him a puzzled look, tilting her head, as she waited for him to say something.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then." He finally said impassively and left.

She was left staring at the door with twitched eyebrows. "Okay." she mumbled and grabbed her handbag.

Sasori was muttering a muffled swear when he entered the elevator. But before the elevator closed, there came another flashback of memory in his head. He was wearing a black cloak with red clouds printed on it. He saw an old woman and a girl. They were on a dim cave and there seemed to be a fight between him and the two women. There were human-figure puppets with weapons attached to its bodies, invisible strings were connected to it.

"Granny Chiyo." He mumbled absentmindedly.

"Dr. Akasuna?"

He was pulled back from his perplexed thoughts when he heard a female voice. His sight scanned his surrounding and figured out that he's still in the elevator; Keiko was standing beside him, deciphering him with utmost curiosity. He looked at her, lost in thought.

"Are you alright?" asked Keiko with concern.

It took him several seconds before he nodded.

The elevator opened and they both walked out of it. There was complete silence between them as they paved their way to the parking area. Sasori was in deep thought about the old woman that he just saw in that sudden flashback. While Keiko couldn't help but think about the name that Sasori mumbled when they were in the elevator.

 _Granny Chiyo, is it?_ She mumbled while walking towards his car.

Sasori was about to open his car when he suddenly heard a loud curse. Turning to look at the direction where the curse came from, he saw a white car with vandals and broken windshield.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Keiko exclaimed both in rage and surprise. She was staring in horror before her car.

"How lame." He whispered, standing beside her with crossed arms over his chest.

She pasted her gaze at him. "Did this happen before in this parking area?"

He shrugged.

"Whoever did this will surely pay." she said, her voice was full of hatred to the world.

"You'll never understand antisocial people's antics."

She snorted. "I need to report this to the police station."

"I'll drive you there, come on." He said and started walking towards his red luxury car.

She mentally complimented Sasori's car the moment it responded when he pressed the button on the carkey he's holding.

Sasori was about to start the engine when he suddenly paused and looked at the backseat with a sullen vibe on his eyes.

"What?" Keiko asked innocently.

He let out a good natured sigh. "You don't want me to look like your driver, do you?"

"Oh. Right." She said and smiled. "Sorry." And she went to the passenger seat.

They were silent during the ride but Keiko kept on shooting glances at Sasori.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I'm just wondering if you live alone."

He shot her a brief glance. "Living with someone is troublesome."

She tilted her head slightly. Curiosity kicked in. "Isn't living alone more troublesome? Like it would be easier if you have someone to cook for you or do the laundry or clean the house-"

"I can take care of myself." he said bluntly, thinking that she was about to refer someone for housekeeping job.

"No, that's not what I meant." her eyes were a bit wide, quite surprised that he cut her off in mid-sentence, and realised that he was getting the wrong idea.

He let out a sigh of resignation. "How about you?"

"What about me?" she asked to confirm what he was actually asking about.

"Are you living alone?"

She shook her head. "I live with my grandma back in Suna, but we're not really blood-related."

He remained silent. After a moment of silence, she sighed.

"It's a long story." She said and leaned her back on the seat. "Let's just say, I'm adopted."

The car halted due to the heavy traffic. Lights flickered on the long road of Konoha's capital. Suddenly, there was lightning flashed on the dark sky. Sasori remained silent as he contemplated with her revelation about her being adopted.

"Looks like it will rain soon. Aah..." Keiko mumbled. _I don't have an umbrella._

Sasori tried to ignore her mumbling and stared blankly on the dark sky ahead of them when he was suddenly reminded of his conversation with Keiko three weeks ago.

 _"So what brought you here in Konoha Medical Center?" he asked while pouring tea on her teacup._

 _"It's something personal."_

He snatched a brief glance on her and found out that she was staring at him absentmindedly.

"Keiko." He said.

She wasn't responding.

"Keiko." He repeated, this time, louder.

Still the same. She wasn't even moving an inch while spacing out.

He shook his head and pressed the horn to startle her. She went back to her senses and was extremely surprised.

 _Oh. What have I…_ she gazed back at him with a harried look on her face. _This is embarrassing!_

"Are you hungry?" he asked in order to re-live the dead air hovering around them.

"Uh, I'm fine." She answered awkwardly.

"We should eat dinner after reporting to the police station."

She chose to be silent this time. It was strange but she was feeling like butterflies were inside her stomach.

The traffic flow was loosening and the car in front of them started moving. It didn't took them long to reach the police station.

"We'll investigate on it as soon as possible." The police officer in-charged told Keiko.

She nodded. "I urgently need to know who did that to my car." She stood up and hit the police officer's table with her hand hardly it caught the attention of everyone in the office. "Whoever did this will surely pay."

Sasori pulled her arm and forced her to sit back down. "Itachi, I'm counting on you."

The police officer nodded. "We'll take immediate action to it."

Keiko was frowning when they left the police station. She invested all her income to buy that car, much to her grandmother's disapproval.

"I…" she started when Sasori was about to hop in his car, "will take the taxi."

He halted and looked at her. "How lame."

She gave him a rueful smile. "I've been causing you so much trouble, Sir. And to be honest, I don't like being indebted to anyone."

"Women's logic really sucks." He said and opened the driver's door. _Now I understand why Hidan never stick to one woman._

He maneuvered his car and stopped when the passenger's door was in front of Keiko.

"Hop in. It's still raining."

She hesitated. "But I…"

Sasori rolled his eyes. "I won't insist."

But before he rolled the window up, she stopped him. "Wait!"

He shot her a bored gaze and arched an eyebrow. She gave him a sweet yet meaningful smile and hopped in. They were both quiet on their way to nowhere as Sasori absentmindedly drove on the wrong lane.

"Sir?" asked Keiko, her eyes were darting the road, but Sasori didn't respond which made her twitched her eyebrows. "You're on the wrong lane."

He seemed not to hear anything, his gaze was nailed on the road ahead until they almost hit with another car.

"Shit!" exclaimed Sasori when he realized that Keiko was tightly holding his hands and taking control of the steering wheel.

When she noticed that he went back to his senses, she immediately drew back and cleared her throat. "Modesty aside, you're out of your mind." She scowled.

His words were trapped in his mind he couldn't find the right words to say. "Tch."

"I'll prepare dinner tonight." She said, brushing the incident out of her mind, "You can spend your dinner in my house, if you don't mind."

He casted her a brief glance before nodding.

Her apartment was located in the outskirt of the capital. Sasori was wondering why it has to be that far from her workplace until he realised that the area was near the rural settlers, pretty much like that of Suna's which reminded him of his old place.

"It's clean. I don't always go home since I started in the hospital." Said Keiko as they entered the living room.

Sasori sat on the couch, his silver orbs were scanning the warm and decent living room until his sight halted on an antique picture frame. He went to look at it closely.

"Granny Chiyo?" he mumbled, quite confused.

He was about to ask Keiko about the old woman in the picture when his phone suddenly vibrated from his pocket.

"What do you want?" he asked Hidan who was walking on the streets of the capital.

«I want a fucking comfortable space instead of wondering in the streets for three weeks now.» said Hidan. Tobi's voice could be heard in the background agreeing on Hidan's statement.

"Then get a life, idiots."

«Damn, readhead. Won't you give us a hand?»

"No." replied Sasori and hanged up.

"What do you want me to cook, Dr. Sasori?" asked Keiko from the kitchen counter.

"I don't have food preference." He replied but his interest was nailed on the old woman posed with a child Keiko on the photo.

"Okay. Got it." She answered and started to get busy preparing their dinner.

He proceeded to scan the other frames and was surprised to see a picture of red hair and green eyes beside a doctor Keiko, prompting him to mentally ask himself.

 _Gaara?_

 **to be continued…**


End file.
